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originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: nonspecific
My mother had a similar blind-spot about "hiatus".The word actually means "a gap". The United States is currently experiencing a hiatus in Presidential electioneering.
My mother used it for moments of crisis and drama. The other morning, a driver carelessly crashed into a parked vehicle near my house. She would have called that event a "hiatus". I'm not sure how she got to that meaning, but I think it was vaguely onomatopoeic.
My father used to try to explain what the word really meant, so she continued using it in her own way with the additional motive of irritating him.
originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: Liquesence
But what are people actually intending to say by "irritates me no end"? Are they truly regretting the lack of purpose in their irritation? Or isn't the real thought in their minds "This irritates me A LOT"?
That's why I still prefer the theory that "no end" carries the meaning "without limit", "infinitely".
originally posted by: Nyiah
Thought of something else, but it's regional US dialect stuff.
"Pop" drives me bats# crazy, it's one in particular I want to see DIAF as a reference to carbonated beverages. In the south, like in FL where I grew up, any carbonated beverage is a "coke", whether or not it's a Sprite or an RC, Mountain Dew or Pepsi, or an actual Coca-Cola product.
I'll call it soda here in MI when we're running errands and stop to eat, but I still call it coke at home. But I can't say pop when I order a drink, & I bite my tongue every time a cashier or waitress asks if I'd like water, coffee, or pop with my meal
Do I want a pop? How about I pop y....never mind.
originally posted by: TheConstruKctionofLight
a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight
I'm ambivalent with TheConstruKctionofLight's posting's lately.
The all-time-winner for me, a phrase which irritates me beyond comprehension just instantly, is "mouth breather".